Do be careful about your Non-Operative Sri Lanka accounts. Please check with your local banker.
BANKING ACT DIRECTIONS NO.5 OF 2009
IDENTifYING, REPORTING, TRANSFERRING
AND MAINTAINING
ABANDONED PROPERTY OF LICENSED
COMMERCIAL BANKS
In the exercise of the powers
conferred by Sections 72 to 76 of the Banking Act No. 30 of 1988, last amended
by the Banking (Amendment) Act No. 46 of 2006, the Monetary Board hereby issues
these Directions under provisions of Section 46(1) of the Act in respect of
identifying, reporting, transferring and maintaining abandoned property of
licensed commercial banks.
1.These Directions may be cited as
the Banking Act Directions No. 5 of 2009.
The Sections referred to in these
Directions are those of the Banking Act No. 30 of 1988, last amended by the
Banking (Amendment) Act No. 46 of 2006.
2(1) In terms of Section 73(1), all
licensed commercial banks holding any articles defined as abandoned property in
Section 72 of the Banking Act,shall submit a report to the Monetary Board on an
annual basis, within six months from the end of each financial year. Licensed
commercial banks shall report abandoned property in accordance with the format
at Annex I.
2(2) If there is no abandoned
property identified by a licensed commercial bank during a financial year, the
respective licensed commercial bank shall formally communicate this fact to the
Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Such communication will be considered as a ‘Nil’
report.
2(3) Pursuant to filing of the report
on abandoned property, licensed commercial banks shall maintain documents
necessary to substantiate the information submitted in the report for a period
of at least ten years from the date of submission.
3(1) In terms of Section 74 of the
Banking Act, all licensed commercial banks shall, within 30 days of submitting
the report required under Direction 2(1) above,
(i) publish a notice in Sinhala,
Tamil and English daily news papers stating the name of the owner and
particulars concerning the property, and
(ii) dispatch by registered post, a
notice containing the particulars of such property to the owner’s last known
address.
Citation.
Reporting of abandoned property to
the Monetary Board.
Publication of the notice
on abandoned property.
Directions, Determinations, and
Circulars issued to Licensed Commercial Banks 327
3(2) All licensed commercial banks
shall confirm in writing to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka of compliance with
these requirements, within seven working days from the date of publishing and
despatching such notices.
4(1) All licensed commercial banks
shall create “control accounts” for abandonedproperty, based on the currency,
in the banks’ books and shall transfer tocontrol accounts all monies reported
to the Monetary Board as abandonedproperty in accordance with Direction 2(1)
above.
4(2) All licensed commercial banks
shall transfer monies that have already beenreported to the Monetary Board as
abandoned property in accordance with theCircular dated 2 May 2006, to the
“control accounts” referred to in Direction4(1) above, within seven working
days from the date of this Direction.
5(1) In terms of Section 73(2) of the
Banking Act, the Monetary Board hasdetermined that licensed commercial banks
shall transfer ninety per cent ofthe monies reported as abandoned property,
maintained in Sri Lanka Rupees(LKR) in a control account, to a special account
in the Central Bank of SriLanka, within forty five calendar days from the date
of reporting the abandoned
property each year.
5(2) Licensed commercial banks shall
transfer ninety per cent of monies that havealready been reported as abandoned
property in accordance with the Circulardated 2 May 2006, maintained in LKR,
and the interest on such moniescalculated up to the date of transfer, to a
special account in the Central Bank of
Sri Lanka, within thirty calendar
days from the date of this Direction.
5(3) Licensed commercial banks shall
transfer the monies reported as abandonedproperty referred to in Directions
5(1) and 5(2) above to the following accountin the Central Bank of Sri Lanka,
and notify it in writing to the Chief Accountantof the Central Bank with a copy
to the Director of Bank Supervision.
Name of Account : Abandoned Property
of Licensed Commercial Banks
Account Number : 4679
6(1) Ten per cent of the monies
reported as abandoned property maintained inLKR, remaining after the transfer
as specified under the Direction 5(1), andabandoned property maintained in
foreign currency shall be retained in the
“control accounts” of licensed
commercial banks referred to in Direction 4(1)above. These monies shall be
utilised to meet any claims on the abandonedproperties, upon the licensed
commercial banks satisfying themselves of theidentity of the claimants.
6(2) Once a payment is made in terms
of Direction 6(1) above, licensed commercialbanks shall report it to the
Central Bank of Sri Lanka within seven days fromthe date of such payment, along
with relevant information, i.e., details of theowner, description of property,
date of reporting of such abandoned property,amount of payment and date of
payment. All licensed commercial banks shall
prepare a report of such repayments
on an annual basis and submit the samewithin six months of the end of each
financial year, in accordance with thereporting format at Annex II, along with
the report referred to in Direction 2(1)above.
Transfer ofabandonedproperty to
“control
accounts”.
Transfer of moniesto a specialaccount
in theCentral Bank.
Repaymentof claims.
328 Directions, Determinations, and
Circulars issued to Licensed Commercial Banks
;
6(3) Any claims in LKR made in excess
of ten per cent of the funds retained in therespective control account by the
licensed commercial bank, will be repaidby the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in
terms of the provisions of Section 75 ofthe Banking Act. When any such claim is
made, licensed commercial banksforward the same to the Central Bank of Sri
Lanka, along with a lettecertifying the identity of the owner of such abandoned
property.
7(1) Licensed commercial banks shall
prepare a Safe Deposit Inventory Sheet torecord the details of safe deposit
boxes opened. Opening of safe deposit boxesshall be carried out in the presence
of two responsible officers who are, interalia,specifically assigned with such
task and one of whom should be at leastat Senior Executive level. All items
contained in safe deposit boxes that are
considered to be abandoned, shall be
included in the Inventory Sheet withoutexceptions. All items contained in the
safe deposit boxes shall be itemised andkept in safe custody after opening the
safe deposit boxes. No item should besold, destroyed or disposed of.
7(2) The Inventory Sheet shall be
signed by the officers mentioned in Direction7(1) above. The Safe Deposit
Inventory Sheet shall be prepared in accordancewith the instructions to these
Directions and reporting format at Annex III andsubmitted to the Monetary Board
within six months of the end of each financialyear, along with the report on
abandoned property referred to in Direction 2(1)
above.
8 In view of the introduction of this
Direction, Circular Letter
No. 02/17/402/0079/001, dated 2 May
2006, titled Implementation of theprovisions of Sections 72 to 76 of the
Banking Act on Abandoned Property’ ishereby revoked with respect to its
applicability to licensed commercial banksand without prejudice to anything
duly done under or in terms of such Circular
Letter.
Opening of Safe
Deposit Boxes.
Revocation.
Determinations, and Circulars issued
to Licensed Commercial Banks
Instructions for completing the
Annexures on Abandoned Property
In terms of Section 73(1) of the
Banking ActDetails of the property, as defined in terms of Section 72 of the
Banking Act, should be recorded inalphabetical order of the owners’ last name,
to the extent possible, branch wise and currency wise.
Name of Bank : Enter the name of the
reporting Licensed Commercial Bank.
Reporting Date : Enter the date as at
when the reporting is done
(last calendar day of the financial
year).
(18.1.0.0.0.0) Enter the name of the
branch in which the customer account is held.
(18.2.0.0.0.0) Enter the owner’s last
name followed by the first name and middle name/s infull. Enter information
that would aid in identification such as Miss, Mr., Mrs.,after the middle name.
If a single item has two or more
owners, the names of all such owners must bereported, with the relationship.
If your records do not show the name
of the owner of an item, enter the owneras “unknown”.
(18.3.0.0.0.0) Enter the complete
address available in your records. If no address is available,indicate this
fact. In the case of several owners, if the address is the same, theaddress may
be entered once and indicated that it is the same for the others.
(18.4.0.0.0.0) Enter the owner’s
National Identity Card No., Passport No., Date of Birth orany other information
that will assist in identifying the owner. These will beessential at the time
of paying claims and if known, must be included in thereport.
(18.5.0.0.0.0) Select the description
of the item from the list or, if it is not available, enter thedescription with
sufficient detail.
(18.6.0.0.0.0) Enter your
identification number for each item such as Account No., etc.
(18.7.0.0.0.0) Select whether the
item is interest bearing or not.
(18.8.0.0.0.0) Indicate the date when
the last deposit, withdrawal or contact was made by theowner. It could also be
the date a dividend became payable, cheque or draft wasissued, certificate was
purchased etc.
(18.9.0.0.0.0) Indicate the nature of
the last activity. E.g. A withdrawal, a deposit to theaccount etc.
(18.10.0.0.0.0) Select the currency
in which the account is maintained from the list or, if it isnot available,
enter the relevant currency.
(18.11.0.0.0.0) Indicate the total
amount due to the owner, including all interest, dividendsetc., earned up to
the reporting date, without deducting any service charges. Inthe case of safe
deposit boxes or other items held for safekeeping, identify the
contents and include the description
of any item that has a value. For all safedeposit boxes, include an inventory
sheet as in Annex III.
(18.12.0.0.0.0) Enter the amount of
deductions made which should include only any lawfulcharges.
(18.13.0.0.0.0) Indicate the nature
of any deduction made such as service charges, tax etc.
(18.14.0.0.0.0) The net amount due
after the deductions mentioned.
(18.15.0.0.0.0) Indicate the exchange
rate applicable in the case of any currency other thanLKR, as at the end date
of the reporting period.
Directions, Determinations, and
Circulars issued to Licensed Commercial Banks 333
(18.16.0.0.0.0) The net amount due in
LKR.
(18.17.0.0.0.0) Indicate the terms
agreed with the owner, such as interest rate, paymentinstructions etc., that
will be essential in the case of any payment of claims. Alsoindicate any
special considerations attached to such property and the date of
maturity in the case of term
deposits.
(18.18.0.0.0.0) Total of the net
amount due in LKR in (18.16.0.0.0.0).
(18.19.0.0.0.0) Indicate the year of
reporting/identifying the particular property as abandonedproperty in reporting
to CBSL.
(18.20.0.0.0.0) Indicate the date of
settlement of the claim to the customer.
(18.21.0.0.0.0) Indicate the full
name(s) of the owner(s) including information useful for identifyingthe owner.
(18.22.0.0.0.0) Indicate the safe
deposit box number.
(18.23.0.0.0.0) Indicate the place at
which the vault containing the safe deposit is located.
(18.24.0.0.0.0) Indicate the date the
safe deposit was opened.
(18.25.0.0.0.0) Indicate the quantity
of items in the safe deposit box.
(18.26.0.0.0.0) Indicate the nature
of each item contained in the safe deposit box.
(18.27.0.0.0.0)
Indicate any other relevant information.
